First land battle breaks out at Big Bethel

This June 29, 1861 Harper's Weekly illustration shows the 5th New York Infantry, also known as Duryee's Zouaves, during an assault on the Confederate position at Big Bethel.

This June 29, 1861 Harper's Weekly illustration shows the 5th New York Infantry, also known as Duryee's Zouaves, during an assault on the Confederate position at Big Bethel. (Courtesy of the Casemate Museum)

Early on the morning of June 10, 1861, two untested American armies marched across the Peninsula, blindly moving on each other in the pre-dawn darkness.

Just hours before, the Union forces advancing from Hampton and Newport News Point along the Yorktown road had been badly bloodied and unnerved by friendly fire. But they still outnumbered by more than 7-to-1 the Confederates heading down the same road from their earthworks at Big Bethel Church.

Had these untried troops met in the open field, that vast discrepancy in firepower might have rewritten the story of the first land battle of the Civil War.

But then a "noble-hearted Virginia country woman" emerged from the dark, warning the Southerners of the approaching danger.

Wheeling his column around, Col. John Bankhead Magruder made no better decision than retreating to his entrenchments, where his doubled but still badly outnumbered men met the Union attack at 9 a.m. There they completely outfought some of the Federal army's most elite units, with his earthworks and artillery making all the difference in a lopsided victory trumpeted by the South and lamented by the North as a disaster.

"The whole country goes crazy over it — because it's the first time anybody has stood up toe to toe with the enemy and fired volley after volley on the field of battle," says historian John V. Quarstein, whose new book — "Big Bethel: The First Battle" — explores the historic clash in detail.

"For the South, the myth that one rebel could whip up on two, three, four, even 10 Yankees was confirmed, while the shocked and embarrassed North discovered that preserving the Union wasn't going to be easy."

Given the Peninsula's importance as a gateway to Richmond — and the burgeoning tide of Union troops pouring into Fort Monroe — the clash at Big Bethel was predictable.

For weeks before, the Federals had flexed their muscle, moving beyond the fort to build sprawling tent cities at Camp Hamilton in Hampton and Camp Butler at Newport News Point. Their scouts ranged as far as Fox Hill and across New Market Creek to Big Bethel Church, where the Zouaves of the 5th New York Volunteers taunted their foes by scrawling "Down with the Rebels! Death to the Traitors!" on the walls.

Playing for time, Magruder hoped to keep his increasingly threatening opponent at bay until a small army of slaves and soldiers could complete a wall of earthworks that spanned the Peninsula from Yorktown to Mulberry Island. But as the Union moved more aggressively through the no man's land between Yorktown and Hampton, he decided to counter their patrols with a forward outpost at Big Bethel.

Col. Daniel Harvey Hill of the 1st North Carolina Volunteers sized up the position quickly after arriving late on June 6. Aiming to make up for his disadvantage in numbers, he laid out two earthworks flanking the road and church, then added a third on the other side of the bridge that spanned Brick Kiln Creek.

As his men dug in, the devout Presbyterian inspected the sullied church, which had the same name as the one he grew up in.

"Hill was extremely religious. He had sympathy for the church — and he really hated Yankees," Hampton History Museum curator J. Michael Cobb says. "So in his eyes it had been desecrated by the invaders."

Three days later, Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler reacted, ordering 4,400 men to advance from Camps Hamilton and Butler.

But the complicated and poorly led early morning attack looked doomed even before it started.

Confused by the darkness — and alarmed by what they thought were enemy horsemen — the German-speaking troops of the 7th New York Volunteers fired on the unsuspecting 3rd New York after failing to recognize the password.

Not until 9 a.m. did the Yankees mass for an attack, sending 1st North Carolina Pvt. Henry Lawson Wyatt scampering back from his post to report their arrival. Within minutes, the Confederates opened fire with artillery, sparking a cannon duel that lasted an hour.

That's when the seasoned Hill — a veteran of the Mexican War — stood up with his pipe to face the shells whizzing in from the Union guns commanded by Lt. John Trout Greble.

"He leans out of the way and tells his men, 'All you've got to do is dodge,'" Quarstein says.

"Then he shakes his finger at the Federal guns, yelling, 'You dogs! You missed me that time!'"

The Union men were far less experienced and fortunate as they made their first assault, then fell back after the rebel guns began inflicting harrowing casualties.

More men fell dead or wounded as the 5th New York charged again, this time taking the disabled forward gun for a brief few minutes before being repulsed by a counterattack.

A third assault led to the death of Maj. Theodore Winthrop, who was shot through the heart as he stood up on a log to rally his bloodied New Yorkers and New Englanders. Falling back across the creek, his men left his body behind as they broke into what became a disorganized Union retreat.

Greble was covering their flight when the last Confederate shell exploded, tearing off part of his head. But his brain-splattered corpse was only one horror in a battle scene strewn with disfigured bodies and severed limbs.

"These are sights no one expected when the Yankees were parading down Broadway," Cobb says.

"No one thought they were going to get killed. None one thought they would lose a battle. And when this disgraceful defeat comes, the impact on the North is tremendous."

With 76 casualties, the Federals suffered far more than the South, which had only nine wounded and one fatality. Pvt. Wyatt — who had seen the Yankees first — became the first Confederate to die in combat as he rushed a house held by Union sharpshooters.

So dramatic was this difference in performance that many Southern newspapers predicted the war would soon be over. Within days, relics from the field began appearing in shop windows all over Richmond, signaling their owners' pride and belief in the coming triumph.

"The South looked on the victory at Big Bethel as a divine ray from heaven. It showed that their soldiers really were superior — and that God was on their side," Cobb says.

"But it was a false hope."

Want to go?

The 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Big Bethel

What: A lecture by historian John V. Quarstein featuring excerpts from his new book, "Big Bethel: The First Battle," followed by a book signing

Also scheduled: A new Civil War monument honoring the 1st Vermont Volunteers will be dedicated at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 11, at Big Bethel Battlefield Park, 1701 Big Bethel Road, Hampton. The ceremony will be followed by a wreath-laying at the memorial to Pvt. Henry Lawson Wyatt, the first Confederate soldier killed in battle.

The first land battle of the Civil War ended in a lopsided victory trumpeted by the South and lamented by the North as a disaster. Here's a collection of images assembled to mark the 150th anniversary of the historic June 10, 1861 clash, which took place at crossroads church in what is now...